Dilemma of Soulmates
by Mystiqual Crafts
Summary: What happens your soulmates from alternate universes collide. Kria is about to just find out.
1. Chapter 1

She was happy today. It was not that she had never been happy before or that she have lived her life in misery the whole time but today was different. Today she was elated. Because along with the happiness, there was another emotion. An emotion so long forgotten that it was almost alien. Content. She was at peace. She had found contentment. There used to be a time , a time long ago before she entered St. Louis when she used to be content with her life. No, a part of her countered. Even then she had yearned for dance. Yes, but then the dissatisfaction was not prominent. For she had converted it into an adrenaline rush. A determination had been born from that dissatisfaction. The determination to end it. Then St. louis and him happened. Suddenly, her dreams were coming true one at a time. Both the ones she had dreamed and the ones she had dreamed and forgotten. She got dance and love but even then she was dissatisfied. Because the feeling of hoodwinking someone, let alone her mother could not sit well with her. And then it had happened. The moment when along with dissatisfaction , incompleteness had set in. She had not known he had such a profound effect on her until she had pushed him away. Her heart had always hoped he would chase after her, like he always did when she pushed him away. It had taken a lot of time for her to convince herself that he was not coming. That he had finally given up on her. That this time she had taken one step too far.

But that is what she wanted. for him to forget and move on. No, she didn't.

Dissatisfaction along with that profound sense of loss had set in when she finally acknowledged to herself that he was not coming. But, then a little ray of hope came peeking through the darkness. Her mother had finally made peace with her love of dance and now encouraged her wholeheartedly. But again, it was rudely snatched away when the only person who she could call family was ripped away from her. Her mother died and after the teribble grief , the vacuum greeted her again. This time she was surprised to discover that she had already gotten accustomed to it. She had thought she knew what darkness is when she left Rey and . But the darkness laughed at her as it engulfed her whole after her mother's death. She had put up a front for the world. A front of the girl she used to be, to make sure others never stripped away the layers like he did. And then, she had come back to India . He had hated her, loved her , being hot and cold all at once , thrown her through a roller coaster of emotions . Finally when she had fallen and was convinced she would hit rock bottom, he had caught her. And then she had been happy again. But was she content? No, she had strived with him to build a better life for them. A dance school, a studio, and everything had come gradually until they were both at a point where they could ensure happiness for each other, spiritually and materialistically.

She glanced lovingly at the solitaire. This feeling was so alien. This feeling of perfect contentment and happiness mixed together. Today she was truly happy. She wanted to purr, she thought strangely and then laughed out loud at her weird thoughts. She could not remember the last time she had felt so content. Or did she? A vague memory played at the back of her head. A memory she had buried because she did not want to add another thing to her ever growing heap of disappointments. But today it was pushing at the seams of her brain trying to come to the front. She did not know why but it was time to remember the day again. Maybe then her memory will run out of things to disappoint her.

It had taken place during the time she had believed herself incapable of feeling emotions. Had gone through the motions of life on auto pilot. Six months after her mother's death, when she wanted to let go off the grief but found herself incapable of doing so. She had joined a dance academy as per her mother's wishes and her first task was to volunteer for the show of a big shot rockstar. An Indian rockstar. Rohan Nanda…..

She remembered hearing the name somewhere but it had been so long since she had functioned as a normal human. The old Kria would have been updated on all sorts of music. This Kria could just not bring herself to care.

She had ran away from the stage half an hour before the performance. The bright lights had reminded her of the last dance performance that she had done with her friends. She was not ready to let go of that memory yet. She had ran and ended up in a pub near the hall where the concert was to take place. Still dressed in glitter and bling she took her sit at the bar. She was hoping to escape human company here until a husky voice had groaned "Get away from my sight. You are hurting my eyes. Who wears glitter anymore? "

The speaker was a guy in loose slacks and a leather jacket. He also had a fedora that concealed half his face. he seemed to be nursing himself to some strong spirits. Something about his biting remark set off a fire within her that she had long believed dead.

"Right. Who wears a fedora anymore?"

Her response made him look up and she found herself gazing into the face of an Adonis. She had seen that face before . It was on a life size poster outside the concert hall.

"You are Rohan Nanda", she deadpanned.

"Yes", he replied casually.

"Are you not supposed to be at some concert?, she asked. She had no idea why she was being inquisitive. She had stopped caring about people. Maybe, something to do with the fact that she was to be part of the show and the celebrity ditching them would not have sit well with the old Kria.

Her question made him raise an eyebrow, "Are you a fan?"

"No", she replied seriously.

"So you just randomly happen to know of my activities?", he retorted.

Something in the arrogant way he replied incensed her. "I am one of those many dancers you abandoned at the hall. But then why would you care?"

His mouth just lifted in a wry smile ,"So you are a background dancer? But don't you think your anger is a little misplaced? I mean I am not there but so are you. You are sitting right here with me. You don't get to preach to me. Kind of like pot calling the kettle black."

Kria ducked her head and closed her eyes. This man was making her angry and she was not accustomed to feeling anything. She had been empty for so long. This new feeling was making her uncomfortable and she did not know how to handle it.

"Get lost.", she gritted through her teeth. The surprised look on the man's face told her he was not accustomed to being insulted. But then his expression changed. Something in his eyes softened as he looked at her.

"Who left?",

It was two words, a simple question but it jolted her to the core. Shook up her world and turned it upside down and then shifted it back to the same position again.

"Everybody.", she found the word forcing itself out of her throat. Her vision was blurred and she was surprised to find her cheeks wet.

"Been there. Been there always.", she heard him saying in a sardonic voice. She looked up into his eyes and in that split second she found herself again. In a kindred soul, as torn apart as herself.

"How do you dull it? It feels empty.", she found her question coming out as a soft plea. A soft plea that was crying for him to help her. To save her from the darkness that surrounded her.

"You dance right? Maybe we should go up to that stage.", he tilted his head towards the makeshift stage at the front of the pub. "Do something together. I can sing and you can dance. Give these people a free show." Again the rueful smile. She felt apprehension but found herself nodding to the absurd suggestion and when he grinned wide, she knew she had made a right decision. Yes, she will dance tonight while this stranger sings to her. This was how tonight was supposed to go anyways.

Half an hour later, she was whirling through the cramped stage in the downtown pub while the audience cheered. But she heard him. only him. Singing in that voice that made her want to crawl in a corner and cry. A voice that made her want to sprout wings and fly. And she put all of that into the wild motions she was doing. The wild movement of her body that others called dance. But she knew. She was looking for an escape. They just could not see her doing it.

The music stopped but she continued. She could not stop. Not until she found her escape. When she finally ran out of breath, she saw him sitting there watching her with rapt attention. The pub was eerily silent. She turned around to see why. The pub was empty. Everyone had left.

"Did you find it?" she heard him speaking behind her. She knew what he was asking. Yes, she had found it. She had finally sought out her escape.

She turned to him smiling gleefully only to find his face just a breath away. His eyes were watching her with an intensity that frightened her. "Yes", she breathed out in response to his question.

"I believe I may be in love with you. ", he said curiously as if he himself was puzzled at what he said. His forehead had creased at the middle as he mulled silently over his own words. She found her hands moving of her own accord as she smoothed the creases in his forehead. "You don't love me. Love is not that easy."

His lips again curled into that smile. A smile that she had soon come to associate with him. A smile that looked as if he knew a secret she didn't.

"I have heard that before, you know. Someone else told me some years ago that I was not in love. That I just fancied myself in love. I think this is my thing. Fancying love?" he said. But it was more of a question as he peered at her with those twinkling eyes. There was no mistaking the pain behind his voice. A pain carefully concealed with nonchalance and laced with humor. But it was there alright. He really had been in love with whoever he was talking about.

She wanted to comfort him. To help him in the same way he had helped her. She hugged him then. She fit perfectly into his arms, she noticed as she hugged him tight trying to take away at least some of the pain.

"Do you think we may be soul mates?" he whispered in her ear as he returned her hug.

"No. I already left my soul mate behind." She replied back softly. It was true. Rey was her soul mate.

"Do you know what they say of alternate universes?" he asked her still in her arms.

"Yes. I believe we are a pair in some alternate universe." Kria said drolly.

"What do you feel?" he asked as he hugged her a tad bit tighter.

"Content.", the answer had come easily to her. It was as if she had known it all her life.

A shrill ringing tone broke the moment and they detached. It was his publicist raining hell on him for missing a concert. She had slipped away quietly while he talked furiously over the phone. He had already slipped in through his barriers. She could not let him get to her heart. She believed what he said about them being soul mates. But she already found another match for her heart. They would have to wait for that alternate universe to happen. Because here they just were not meant to be.

Kria looked down at her finger as the memory played out in perfect detail in her mind. Rohan Nanda. One night. one performance and she had almost healed the next day. He had dispatched on his tour the following day and left NYC . Did he remember her? Or has he buried the memory as well like her? After all they were kindred souls who matched in their reactions. She hoped he had found what he was looking for. The same peace that she was experiencing. She hoped he found his contentment as well.

"You like it?"

Kria turned around to find Rey watching her play with the finger in which her solitaire rested. He was looking doubtful and she smiled cheerily to assure him. "I love it."

He grinned wide in that giddy manner he did when he was happy.

" Oh,I forgot to tell you. There is this singer who wants to hire people from our studio for their show." He said after a while. "fine." Kria replied. This was a daily routine . Singers always hired from their studio but somewhere in the back of her head, she felt a strange premonition. Something wrong was about to happen. It felt as if two parallel universes, not meant to meet were going to collide head on. Something monumental is just waiting around the corner , waiting to strike her just when she thought she had found peace. She shook off the feeling putting it down to her pessimism. But she was not sure what made her ask the question.

"Who is the singer again?"

"Rohan Nanda", Rey replied.


	2. Wrong

Wrong

She looked around the studio and felt a weird sense of déjà-vu envelope her. This was crazy.

"And where will this one go Kria?" the stage manager of her team was holding up a life size poster. A poster exactly like the one in front of the auditorium all those years ago. Should that damn poster not be outdated as of now? His image management team needed to work harder at refreshing his image. Speaking of auditoriums, Kria looked around her studio. A frown marred her face as she took it all in. She was not having a particularly good day and this was not helping her mood in the least.

Strong hands crept around her waist as a strong muscular chest came in contact with her back. "What is it?" a husky male voice whispered in her ear. Of course he would notice. She just shrugged her shoulders and leaned back into his warmth greedily. She felt guilty for dismissing his question. But she had no idea what to tell him. Because "it" was not a single thing. It was a whole bunch of things. Like how she had no idea on what to make of this situation. On how to greet the man whom she knew or maybe she didn't. On how she had no idea why her chest feels heavy.

And on how it was irritating her big time on seeing her studio not look like HER studio anymore. She was not a very artistic sort. Well if you don't count dance, that is. Fashion, painting, decoration and other such finer skills have never really been her strong suit. But her studio was a matter of rare pride for her. She had designed it, every single inch of it with the attention of a caring lover. It had taken her days, months to get it just right. So that the studio will reflect her. Them. His style and edge. Her sophistication and elegance. And now it was just messed up. Every inch of it crawling with big lifelike images of…. Of him. The other Him. It felt wrong how it somehow fit perfectly into the scene. It was wrong that his posters in her studio looked so right. This aptness was completely … inapt.

She looked to the right and saw one of her stage hands take down the picture of Reyansh. It was almost audible as the leash on her tightly controlled emotions finally snapped. "STOP!" her glacial voice rang across the room as it froze everyone in their place. She could feel Rey stiffen behind her as she wiggled out of his hold. "Leave the studio alone." she said in a tone that brokered no arguments.

"The PR team of Rohan Nanda asked for the place to be remodeled to reflect his presence." Rey started softly trying to not sound too pushy. She was in one of her moods and he knew no other staff would dare to counter her order. But he needed to try. Mr. Nanda was an international sensation and this was a huge deal for the studio. Surely she would get that. "I said no, Rey." she replied in a soft voice. He tried to persist but then she turned around to meet his eyes and he was brought up short. "Please." The soft plea in her tone bothered him. This was not right. He had not seen that look in her eyes for a while now. He had last seen it when she had cornered him in the rehearsal hall, begging him to give her a chance. Hear her out. Or maybe it was just his mind playing tricks. But whatever it was, it made him give in to her. "Fine. As you wish." he had said with a smile and then hugged her tight. Trying to dispel that vulnerable look in her eyes. To make it go away. Because something told him that this time around he was not the reason behind it.


End file.
